


Eren's Birthday

by moricat



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Fluff, Birthday Presents, Boys In Love, Comfort, Depressed Eren Yeager, Eren Yeager Has Long Hair, Fluff, Love, M/M, Romance, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-30
Updated: 2017-03-30
Packaged: 2018-10-12 23:57:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10502148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moricat/pseuds/moricat
Summary: It's Eren Yeager's birthday and Armin has something very special in mind for him...A quick fluffy (eremin) blurb to celebrate Eren's birthday! Takes place after chapter 90~





	

Eren awoke with an ache in his back and a bitter taste in his mouth, reluctantly sitting upright in the sunlight with a sleepy scowl on his face... Today was his birthday.

Given that Eren wasn't very popular among his comrades, he received very little greeting from anyone in the HQ as he went about his day, brushing his teeth and preening mostly for himself to feel better rather than as a ritual. Depression had a funny way of wrecking one's motivation for maintenance... With his usual empty expression and "resting villain face", as Armin liked to call it, he dragged himself to the mess hall to grab his breakfast, a little late for how uninterested he was in starting his day.

 _"Eren!!!"_ called the familiar soft feminine voice he couldn't have expected any sooner.

Eren turned around silently to answer Mikasa, coming up to him with a wrapped gift in her hands.

"Happy birthday. Here. This is for you." She said meekly, with rosy cheeks behind her freshly laundered scarf. Her hair was freshly washed and shiny too, and Eren noticed she wore her most flattering outfit.

He forced a tight closed lipped smile and opened the soft, wrapped gift to find a new shirt, clean and sturdy, just his style.

"A new shirt?"

"Mm. You're always going on about Jean ripping your old ones, so I thought you could use a better and more quality one. I even tightened the stitches myself to ensure that." She explained, bowing her head slightly out of humble shyness.

Eren stroked the soft fabric and followed the stitches along with his finger, finding that this was indeed a very very nice gift... But if he could be completely honest, he couldn't really appreciate the effort. It was incredibly nice of course, but he truly didn't feel like he deserved it. New clothing was for people with a day to look forward to... and heroes who could advance his comrades like he swore he would. But then he looked back up into Mikasa's dark, nervous eyes and remembered his mom, who always loved him unconditionally, even when getting so little in return... and remembered his promise to her to always make Mikasa feel loved and at home. "...Thank you, Mikasa. I love it. Here." He finally replied, and handed the new shirt back to her as he proceeded to remove his old one right in front of her and everyone else in the mess hall.

Sasha couldn't help but snicker and blush a little from behind her breakfast bread, while Jean grumbled to himself from beside the neutral Connie for 'the gayest cadet in the walls' shameless display.

Eren slipped the new shirt over his toned body, which looked a little extra tan now thanks to the new shirt's white fabric. He dropped the old one on the ground, forced another smile for his sweet step sister, grabbed merely a piece of bread from the kitchen bar, and excused himself, heading silently towards the door.

"Is it your birthday, Eren?" Connie asked quickly.

"Yep."

"Oh, well, happy birthday." he smiled.

"Mm, seconded!" Sasha chimed in, while Jean only rolled his eyes and sipped his water.

Eren replied as shortly as before, "Thanks.", and continued his way out the door.

He nibbled his bread, finding it hard to swallow with a death wish preying on his mind, and slowly wandered aimlessly around the Scouting Legion HQ. Another year older... He remembered the last year he was excited for his birthday, because he was more of a man, and one with a uniform to boast at that, looking ahead to his noble future fighting Titans in the scouting legion... But now that memory broke his heart. Now a new year and a new age meant one more year off of his wasted life span, and a mockery of his dreams which could never come true now, even in the best case scenario... He sighed, forcing himself to swallow the rest of his bread so he could give Mikasa an honest answer about having eaten later on and took himself into the woods where it was quiet.

His father used to say he had a "fire" burning inside him, constantly roaring and crackling in his heart. He really missed that fire. Missed feeling passionate, missed feeling excited, missed feeling hopeful, and motivated... now all he had to feel were aches inside and out and a quiet empty stomach. What was once so famously a fire inside him was now smoldering ash, he thought... And then there was _Armin_...

Eren's thoughts were interrupted by soft approaching foot steps crunching through the leaves behind him. He quickly turned around to see the familiar round eyes of none other than his "childhood friend", (the only label they _allowed_  themselves to use openly), looking at him intensely as he walked towards him. Those damn eyes of his often kept Eren questioning. Were they sad? Were they angry? What thoughts were going through his dreamy blond head behind them? Eren could read them most of the time, but then there were times like these where he just couldn't... "Hey."

Armin remained silent until he reached his "friend" and handed him a small brown paper package tied neatly in string, albeit less pristinely than Mikasa's.

"What's this?"

Armin's silence continued and he turned his gaze to the ground, clutching his arm in his hand like he were embarrassed, which his rosy cheeks certainly gave away anyhow.

Seeing as he wasn't gonna give him an answer, Eren smiled a little to himself and decided to go ahead and open the package. It was a considerably weighty package. Not at all like a light shirt would be in there. He pulled the string, removed the lid... and parted his lips curiously. "A box of sand?"

Armin's apple cheeks were now a bright red. He glanced briefly into Eren's eyes and brought one hand under the box to help support it. His other hand took Eren's and gently lead it into the sand, pressing it under.

Eren raised an eyebrow, but glanced up at Armin again with a smile for whatever the lively man had in store for him. He looked back into the sand and wriggled his fingers through it, feeling around aimlessly for a second before finding some curious object pressing against his finger tips. He pulled it out of the sand, revealing a beautiful red spindle shaped sea shell. "Ohhh, hey! Is this from our trip to the ocean?"

Armin remained quiet but nodded yes, still with those adorable blushing cheeks that brought the chuckle back into Eren's warm voice.

"Awesome!" He glided his thumb over the smooth shell's surface for a moment, before Armin's gentle, slightly trembling hand pressed his back into the sand. Eren couldn't help smiling now and dug through the coarse briny scented sand box again. He then pulled out a bulgy but smooth iridescent rock, like none he'd ever seen. "Woa-hoh, what's this?! Is this a pearl?! It's so crazy and pretty! I didn't know they'd come like this! What else is in here, huh?" He asked playfully, grinning now and even more so at seeing Armin preciously grin back.

The pair took a seat under a tree and sifted through the rest of the sand together. Eren had soon pulled out a total of 22 little sea treasures; gastropods, scallops, pearls, tusks, bivalves, a sand dollar, sea glass, a chunk of coral, a shark tooth, a pretty piece of drift wood, until finally Armin announced. "Okay, that's everything... except one last thing I've hidden in there very carefully."

"Eh? I can't feel anything else in here."

"Try 'scraping the bottom of the barrel'." he chuckled.

Eren squinted and stared into Armin's eyes from behind his ever lengthening black bangs, to search for an answer before taking back to the sand to dig deeper... He brushed his hand against the bottom of the box and the corners, until finally something lifted. "Is there a piece of paper in here?" he asked rhetorically, knowing Armin was keen on not spoiling it. He pinched the edge of the paper and gently lifted it out from under the sand, dusting it with a blow. He gently laid the box of treasures down on the ground to looked over it. "There's a map."

"Mm... You were supposed to see that after the other side. But yes, that's a map to a little secret spot I found that first evening we went to the beach. It's a lovely little rock pool with pretty shells in it, hidden in a cave behind a bunch of sea stacks and a cliff... I thought we could have a nice afternoon there together soon..."

Eren was so moved and his bright smile returned as he wondered whether it was appropriate to just make out with Armin during such a sentimental moment.

"...I wanted to take you there when you'd woken up from that nap you took back then but... you didn't seem keen on exploring, so..."

Eren's smile dropped away again as quickly as it'd come. "Agh... Dammit, I'm sorry, Armin--"

"No, don't be!"

"No, no, I should've--"

Armin gently brought his hand to Eren's lips, silencing him with his fingers while his eyes read _'not another negative thought, now'_. "Please read the other side of that paper, Eren..."

Still feeling horrible and guilty, Eren reluctantly obeyed and turned the page over to read. It was a hand written letter, penned with great care.

> _"My dearest Eren..._
> 
> _These years I've spent with you are years I wouldn't trade for the world. Truly. The magic of the ocean is really the magic of you. You're the waves in the tide that hypnotize me and carry me off to wonderful places, be they literal or figurative. Our dream isn't just seeing the world. It's seeing it together. Ultimately, my dream is always you. My moonlight in the darkest of nights, my shelter in raging storms, my warm blanket in the bitter cold, my beautiful dream in the nothingness of this cruel world. As long as you are with me, holding my hand, hugging me tight, or kissing my lips, you will never have failed me. Never ever. For whatever time we have left together, please let me cherish us. Please live with me. Don't forget to live. I want that for you... More than anything, I want that for you. I love you. You know that, right? I love you with all my heart. Please remember it... and let me do so. Happy Birthday, Eren. I pray that you find it a happy one._
> 
> _Yours truly, from the bottom of my heart,_
> 
> _Armin."_

Eren trembled, stifling a cry but barely fighting it to begin with, and dropped the letter to pull Armin into his arms, with his lips immediately landing on his. The quiet of those woods was now accompanied by the music of these 2 men's hums, kisses, shifting clothes, and Eren's soft crying.

Armin pushed him off kindly to wipe away his tears and exchange a smile with him.

"I love you _so much_." he sniffled.

Armin pulled himself back in for another kiss, more than happy to keep this love session going for as long as his lover wanted or needed. He wouldn't let a word of apology or remorse slip from Eren's lips today. If only for one day, Eren deserved to be happy...

"What do you say we go to that secret spot tonight and have dinner, hmm? I uhh... have a pretty important question to ask you when we get there." Eren muttered against Armin's neck, relishing in the way Armin's body shivered at the heat of his breath on his sensitive skin.

Armin had a few guesses as to what that question might be, all of them filling him with optimism and wonder... He let out a breathy and enthusiastic. "Yes."

Eren's kisses trailed up Armin's neck to his cheeks and lips again. He then paused just to look at him, letting his eyes say all the infinite things he felt for this wonderful man in his arms but could never put into words, which Armin's eyes devoured and fully reciprocated... "Armin... Thank you so much."

Armin smiled, and beamed even brighter when Eren's smile returned in full swing after seeing him depressed for far too long... "I'm so glad you're here... Happy Birthday, Eren."

 _"...It really is."_ Eren grinned.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday my darling son ;-; May your day be a happy and loving one because that's what you deserve. *Hugs and kisses*<3


End file.
